Officials erred twice on crucial play in 49ers' win over Packers, says NFL's VP of officiating

SANTA CLARA -- Dean Blandino, the NFL's vice president of officiating, said the Green Bay Packers have "no recourse" for a blown call prior to the 49ers' second touchdown in Sunday's season opener.

Furthermore, Blandino also told the NFL Network that 49ers left tackle Joe Staley should not have drawn an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for his actions in a sideline scrum.

Moral of the officials-blunder story: the 49ers didn't benefit from wrongly enforced rules, and, in the end, they scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass instead of a potential 3-yard throw.

Blandino confirmed that officials incorrectly replayed a third-and-6 situation from the 10-yard line after a second-quarter sideline scuffle that started with Clay Matthews' late hit out of bounds on Colin Kaepernick.

"It's a blown call, it's a mistake and we've got to make sure it doesn't happen again," Blandino said on the NFL Network.

Referee Bill Leavy said after the game his crew indeed made an incorrect call in replaying third down from the 10. Kaepernick completed a touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin on the ensuing snap for a 14-7 lead in an eventual 34-28 win.

Matthews' penalty was considered a dead-ball infraction, as was Staley's unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty in the ensuing scuffle with Matthews, thus resulting in offsetting penalties. In that case, it should have been fourth-and-2 from the 6.

However, since Staley shouldn't have been penalized, the 49ers actually deserved a first-and-goal from the 3 situation.

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Blandino said he spoke with Leavy immediately after the game, adding: "He recognized there had been a mistake a couple of plays later, and obviously that's too late. There's really no recourse that the Packers have in this instance."